All Forum Posts by: Shaun Reilly

Hi Rob, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have. Given your location and interest I would say definitely check out the House Flipping Meetup in Plymouth. There is also the South Shore REIA down there as well. Going a little more north there is Eastern Mass REIA in Rockland (used to have a 2nd meeting in Taunton but don't think they have been doing that one for a while). Lots more options as you get closer to and past the city as well.

Hi Carrie, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have.  Looks like you already know about the Black Diamond meeting now.  You won't regret checking it out.  If you want to be ambitious check out the Waltham one this week ahead of next month's Worcester one.  There are a couple landlord groups out in Worcester County but not much else in terms of general real estate.  However get closer to Boston and besides Black Diamond Waltham there are a bunch of other options all up and down from the Cape to Southern NH.

There are a lot of annoying and arduous regulations around making sure the security deposits are handled right.  I still generally collect them if I can get all 3 months allowed under the current conditions.  However I totally understand why some people don't even bother with them.

1st off normal wear and tear is usually a pretty high bar here, so unless they trash the place (Where a security deposit would be a drop in the bucket) you generally can't keep that much.  If they fight it and they win they get treble damages.  Which by the way isn't usually applied to the disputed amount, but the WHOLE amount.  So if they claim you wrongfully withheld $100 of a $1,500 deposit the judge could award then $4,500.  I don't think that happens much but it can.

Another reason not to do it is with some of the new court cases going around that are trying to screw landlords even more.  One that I heard about has some dip-sh*ts from Harvard trying to set case law that you can fight a otherwise clean eviction if the security deposit was handled incorrectly.  In this case the tenant has been able to stay in the unit for months while they decide if the landlord not sending like $1.38 in accrued interest to them on the lease anniversary is a legitimate reason to deny an eviction.

These are very extreme examples of things but are the kind of BS we have to deal with around here...

Are you dead set on doing work IN Miami?  I'm not from there but my parents do the snowbird thing in South FL and I have gotten some feel for the market.  You don't have to get that far north of the city for things to get into the 10% cost range of the top stuff in Miami and the foreign investors don't care for at all.  Markets aren't dead but they aren't doing the same stupid stuff that things in the heart of the city are.

Like right now how many deals are you doing IN NYC?  Maybe that is your niche and that is what you want to emulate there.  However if you are doing more work in solid accessible areas to the city in CT and Jersey then that might be the way to look into things down there as well. 

As Fred said do not try to charge anything past the things he listed.

Definitely won't have anything like a cleaning fee fly.  

Really if the cleaners don't have to wear Hazmat suits when they do the job pretty much let cleaning go regardless, hard to argue that isn't "reasonable wear and tear".  Stealing appliances is pretty clear cut for you but everything in between these things will mostly be up to how well you document stuff and the whim of a judge if you go before one if there is anything contested.

As far as the deposits to collect I rarely see people charge the key money but it is very common to get 1st, last and security.  Especially with a robust rental market near Boston.  I would get all 3 if that is what other rentals are doing.  If you only do 2 then do first and last.  Yes they will use last for their last month so no money for repairs but I VERY frequently have tenants not pay the last month (or the SECOND to last month if I have all 3) and say to use the security deposit for that.  They can't do that but what am I going to do evict them 25 days before they are going to leave when the process takes 6 months?  Thankfully only 2 ever did enough stuff I would have taken anything from the deposit and 1 of those actually paid an invoice I sent them for those issues.

I'll guess that most of them either had landlords take money they didn't they should have or were just slow on paying back.  You know decent people that didn't want to deal with BS on their end either. 

Hi David, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have. As Paul said the Eastern Mass REIA would be a good one for you to check out. If you didn't get to the one yesterday probably should look into getting to next month's. You also said you are looking at Black Diamond. I highly recommend getting to that one next week. It alternates with it's Worcester location so the next Waltham one won't be for 2 months if you don't get to this one. Besides that you can check out the Boston REIA in Dedham and going the other way the House Flipping School meetup in Plymouth and the South Shore REIA down that way as well.

One thing that caught my eye in your post was that you just left a job and you mentioned getting a pre-approval.  Which came first?  If you got it before leaving the job, toss it as it is totally worthless now.  Even if it was done under the current conditions keep in mind that underwriters HATE job changes, even if it was for a promotion with big increase in salary, so they will give you a hard time about it.  This is assuming it is a new W2 position, or at least a 1099 one.  If you a starting a business you will probably need 2-3 years of tax returns before a bank will give you a loan unless you find a pretty savy mortgage person to work with.

Banks are stupid.  :)

Hmmm...

If you want more cheap housing then build more government housing.

Or put more subsidies in place for lower income people to bridge the gap.

Maybe, god forbid, offer concessions both ways.  Maybe the small landlord could afford to hold rents down easier if you didn't charge a significantly higher amount in property taxes to non-owner occupants (I have a rental condo in the city, a neighbor with the exact same unit would pay at least $1,000 less in taxes).  Or maybe if you could evict someone (with the vague "just cause") in like 4-6 weeks and not 4-6 months (if it is pretty much uncontested...).

Of course like most things in government they pander to the most votes, which are lower income "Give me ****!" people.  LOTS of tenants to get votes from, less landlords even if they all lived in the city, which many (like myself now) do not. 

Hi Patrick, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have. As mentioned there are the Boston Wealth Builders in the city to check out. My personal favorite is the Black Diamond meeting in Waltham (It is every other month alternating with their Worcester location, this is a Waltham month). Lots of other ones near here like the Boston Area REIA in Medford and the Boston REIA in Dedham as well as many other options north and south of the city.

If you are looking at the appreciation game you definitely should be looking at a long term plan.

Betting on that in the short term (unless you are rehabbing and forcing your own appreciation while getting out in a few months) is very risky.  Especially in a market like the current one.  Even for those that feel the market isn't going to do anything but increase for the foreseeable future (I'm not one of those people...) it is hard to think you haven't missed the 3 best years of appreciation of the current cycle.

If your vision is like 10 years that probably doesn't matter that much, if the plan is to gross a 20% profit in spring of 2018 (With minimal changes to the property) then I'd suggest having a viable plan B.

Hi Richard, welcome to BP.

This is a great place to learn. Make sure to listen to all the BP podcasts, read the articles on the main blog and be active in these forums to learn a ton very quickly about any topic in real estate you want to know more about.

This is also a great place to meet people that can be assets to your business. Lots of great connections all over but we also have a very strong and active contingent here in MA on here so make sure to find them (Set up some keyword alerts to find out about local topics) and get connected.

Besides doing that on here make sure to get out to some of the many local investor events we have. Best options are the South Shore REIA and the House Flipping School Meetup in Plymouth. Many other options as you head farther North as well.